I like Rogue One, but after being enthralled by Andor I thought I would love it. The movie would have been way better if Cassian was the lead, he’s an instantly compelling character as a rebel who’s not afraid of using some underhand tactics to accomplish his goals. Jyn just doesn’t do anything for me personally, she’s not nearly as charismatic as other protagonists and almost feels shoehorned into the narrative to make it work. Other than Jyn the characters are what really keeps this movie afloat, along with Cassian some other standouts are the Kyber Guardians Chirrut and Baze, as well as my favorite droid in the whole series K-2SO.

The film is truly spectacular to look at. For all his flaws as a director Gareth Edwards understands how to make CGI real like very few in the business. The final battle on Scarif looks real and I would easily put the effects on par with the likes of the Avatar or Dune.

If Gilroy actually wrote the film and didn’t just do reshoots I think this would have been really special, but as it stands the film lacks that extra X factor that would push it into the conversation of the best film in the franchise. Luckily, unlike a certain other group of Star Wars films with charming characters and lackluster writing, some of Rogue One’s cast would escape to greener pastures in 2022 with the release of Andor.